Some people say it's foolish to worry about soulless creatures overtaking the earth and devouring our brains.
I say they've already won.

Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Just Words

So, needless to say, the Obama "endorsement" dominated the news cycle. And, needless to say, the Right went apeshit. And, needless to say, the Manic Progressives just went "meh" and "what took him so long?"

There are a lot of neat anecdotes in that piece. Yesterday, when the odious trolls at the Log Cabin Republicans said Obama's timing was terrible because gays and lesbians were "mourning over North Carolina" that seemed as idiotic as calling Dick Cheney a "moral leader" on this issue (or any issue), I thought they got it exactly backwards. Precisely because Amendment One sailed through so easily, this endorsement is an important statement at a time when LGBT Americans needed something - even something purely symbolic.

The statement was not as big a deal as repealing DADT or refusing to defend DOMA in court. At least not in terms of policy. But it was a huge deal for the President to come out and say it (even if everyone knew it's what he already believed). Contrast this with the leadership of Dick Cheney - whose daughter is lesbian and must therefore have a perspective on this issue that is intensely personal. When Kerry mentioned Mary Cheney in his debate, Mary's mother reacted as if Kerry had called her a dirty name. And Dick himself routinely changed the subject when it came up. After he left office, he mumbled something in the direction of support and then was more vocal when it came up in Maryland, his home state. Good for him, he stood up for his daughter.

But he was not going to pay a price for this. Obama might. If anything it will test the theory that he "simply should have used the bully pulpit more and he would have gotten more done". I don't think this will be a big issue, but it will be interesting to see if Obama changes opinions in the African American community.